IPFS
AVOIDING POPULATION CONNECTION: PART 30--NEXT ADDED 100 MILLION AMERICANS
Written by Frosty Wooldridge Subject: EnvironmentPart 30: How and why journalists avoid population
connection
By Frosty Wooldridge
Why do you suppose most Americans remain apathetic
to our adding 100 million people to our country in 33 years? Is anyone in favor of more gridlock,
cramming, jamming and congestion in our cities? Who stands in favor of more air pollution created by that extra 100
million? Who in their right mind
supports water shortages, climate change, accelerated gridlock and worse
ramifications caused by more people? Surprise! More than a few readers
of this series refute the harsh realities presented.
Four years ago, I personally called U.S. Congressman
Chris Cannon, (R-UT). He said, “
I nearly fell out of my chair. It’s almost beyond my understanding that
anyone can be that stupid.
How do Americans live in denial? For the life of me, I don’t understand.
The imminent writer T. Michael Maher said, “Recent
surveys show that Americans are less concerned about population than they were
25 years ago, and they aren’t connecting environmental degradation to
population growth.
“Using
a random sample of 150 stories about urban sprawl, endangered species and water
shortages, Part I of this study shows that only about one story in 10 framed
population growth as a source of the problem. Further, only one story in the
entire sample mentioned population stability among the realm of possible
solutions. Part II presents the results of interviews with 25 journalists whose
stories on local environmental problems omitted the causal role of population
growth. It shows that journalists are aware of the controversial nature of the
population issue, and prefer to avoid it if possible.”
Maher
continued, “In 1992 the National Academy of Sciences and the British Royal
Society issued a joint statement urging world leaders to brake population
growth before it is too late. That same year, 1,600 scientists (including 99
Nobel laureates) issued a statement warning all humanity that it must soon
stabilize population and halt environmental destruction. That same year, world leaders ignored population growth at the
largest environmental summit in history, the U.N. Conference on Environment and
Development, held in
“Why
are the American public and political leaders so indifferent about this issue
that so concerns the world’s leading scientists and environmentalists? Not
because Americans are anti-environment: Another recent Gallup Poll (Hueber,
1991), showed that 78 percent of Americans considered themselves
environmentalists and 71 percent favored strong environmental protection, even
at the expense of economic growth. How
can Americans express strong concern about the environment, yet a diminishing
concern about population growth, which many environmental experts consider the
ultimate environmental problem?”
I
see a disconnect from reality based on our history of unlimited resources,
land, water and air. We continue with
the myth of limitless expansion. If we
ignore it, like a child that places his/her hands over its eyes, the bad thing
will vanish. If we ignore the ‘monster’
called too many people, since it’s not killing us today, it can be ignored.
Maher
explained, “Population researchers Paul and Anne Ehrlich opened their book, “The Population Explosion,” with a
chapter titled, "Why Isn't Everyone as Scared as We Are?" They
acknowledged, "The average person, even the average scientist, seldom
makes the connection between environmental problems and the population problem,
and thus remains unworried.” But while
they noted that the evening news almost never connects population growth to
environmental problems, the Ehrlichs chiefly blamed social taboos fostered by
the Catholic Church and "a colossal failure of education" for public
indifference about population.”
How Experts Frame Environmental Causality
Maher
reported, “With specific reference to habitat loss, Sears (1956), Jackson
(1981), Myers (1991), Ehrlich and Ehrlich (1990), Harrison (1992) and many
others have shown that population growth pushes people into relatively
pristine, natural environments. Endangered species problems are frequently the
flip side of this coin: when people convert wildlife habitat to their own
habitat, they bulldoze trees, introduce chemicals, divert streams, build dams,
alter the water table, and disrupt habitat in numerous other ways.
“While
it is well known that environmental experts connect environmental degradation
to population growth, it is less well known that land developers are equally
straightforward in implicating population growth as a causal agent for turning
wildlife habitat and farmland into subdivisions.”
Maher
said, “The search produced 1,349 water
shortage stories, 1,942 urban
sprawl stories, and 6,001 endangered
species stories. To be considered
for coding, the story had to describe a population-driven environmental
conflict.
“Of
the 150-article sample, 16 (less than 11%) mentioned population growth as a
cause of the environmental problem described in the story. Population growth
appeared in eight urban sprawl stories, seven water shortage stories, and one
story on endangered species.
“Although
many scientific groups, environmental scientists and even land development
experts agree that population growth is a basic cause of environmental change,
media framing diverges widely from expert framing. Just over 10% of a
Lexis-Nexis sample of environmental news stories links human population growth
to the environmental problems it affects. Even more significantly, only one story
in a sample of 150 presents the view that limiting population growth might be a
solution to environmental problems. Such stories effectively tell the reader:
population growth affects environmental degradation, but population stability
is too outlandish even to be mentioned as a policy option.”
Ignoring
that a stable population might be a long-term solution to environmental
problems, news stories instead direct the public's attention to palliative
solutions: build new dams to supply water, zone to prevent urban sprawl, set
aside land for endangered species. In my state of
“In
thousands of communities across America, population growth wreaks changes: a
mobile home park displaces an orchard, a farmer loses his water rights to a
city hundreds of miles away, an endangered reptile’s last known habitat is
threatened by a subdivision,” Maher said. “These and countless other
population-influenced disruptions reduce wildlife habitat, rural solitude,
water availability, and many other environmental qualities. But this study
shows that only one news story in 10 connects these events to population
growth.”
In
plain English, those writers entrusted with informing the American public, pass
the buck. In the meantime, your U.S.
Senate proceeds to not only continue massive illegal and legal immigration, the
new S.B. 9 doubles the current 1 million legal immigrants annually to 2
million! No one understands the
horrendous consequences, but I do and you do. It won’t be pretty when this “Human Katrina” of 100 million more
Americans hits a mere 33 years from now.
##
What YOU can
do for a better future for your country:
YOU can make a difference, really!
The
Get smart. To stop this invasion locally and nationally:
join www.numbersusa.com for free and
you can join www.fairus.org and www.thesocialcontract.com and www.firecoalition.com and www.wehirealiens.com and www.patriotunion.org
For readers of this column, I
present you with an opportunity: If you
appreciate the gravity of what this nation faces by adding 100 million people
in 33 years, please write me with ideas and/or producers on television who
might interview me. I need phone
numbers, emails and addresses of TV/radio and newsprint leaders across the
country. I will speak on behalf of all
Americans and expose to the general public what this nation faces if we
continue on this overpopulation path. Write me at frostyw@juno.com with
your ideas.
To stop Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid
from giving a blanket amnesty to 30 million law-breakers, we MUST take action. Call for a full 10 year moratorium on ALL immigration. We need time
to secure our borders (build attractive, tall-humane physical fences, PLUS
virtual fences) and to get our house in order. THIS
IS URGENT ! During the most recent 12-month period, we were joined by nearly
2 million legal immigrants PLUS more than 3 to as many as 6 million illegal
aliens. The “official” numbers are
grossly, intentionally understated by the Department of Commerce (Census
Bureau)… to fool you.
CALL
EMAIL NANCY PELOSI sf.nancy@mail.house.gov
EMAIL FORM FOR
If you are out of her district, you
can still make your feelings heard:
Senator Harry Reid
202-224-3121 in
775-686-5750 in
www.reid.senate.gov
George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
comments@whitehouse.gov
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard for live listener: 202 456 1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
We must 'sour the milk.’ Bring out
your points in the call:
1. America cannot support another 100
million people added to our country in 34 years, i.e., water crisis, resource
depletion, air pollution, gridlock, loss of quality of life, etc.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Americans must maintain our high-quality
public schools for our children.
8. We can no longer tolerate 350,000 or
more expensive birthright citizens (anchor babies) annually, that subtract from
our own citizens.
9. Voluntary repatriation is a great
thing; Attrition through enforcement by stopping their ability to wire money
home, obtain rental housing and jobs will encourage early departure.
10. An amnesty failed in 1986 (gave more than 3
million carte Blanc citizenship), and it will only be worse today (as proposed,
SB-2611 will give citizenship to 30 million). We're being displaced out of our jobs and out
of our own country.
Call your elected leaders with
relentless and never-give-up passion.
Join www.numbersusa.com
and become a weekly faxer of prewritten letters to your reps. Very powerful and effective. Join www.FIREcoalition.com
for up to date action notices. Join www.FAIRUS.org for everything you need to
know about illegal immigration. Join www.wehirealiens.com
to report employers. For top info on
population measures, go to www.thesocialcontract.com
Help change our energy future by visiting www.willyoujoinus.com for information
on how to make a difference as to energy for the future. Very interesting.
To stop illegal aliens in your
community, you may follow the course of action taken by Mayor Louis Barletta of
Visit D.A. King at the www.thedustininmansociety.org
to see how
Please check out William Gheen at www.alipac.us. He’s a mover and shaker. He will direct you to specific actions that
make you more powerful and impactful.
Frosty Wooldridge presents a 45
minute program to colleges, high schools, civic clubs, church groups and
political clubs across America titled: “COMING POPULATION CRISIS IN AMERICA:
WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.” Go to his
website for further information on booking the program. www.frostywooldridge.com
Check out www.populationmedia.org for an exciting method for creating
overpopulation awareness in
Whether we like it or not, global
warming is upon us. We can take action to correct it. Please join www.stopglobalwarming.org for up to the minute information and
action items.
Awareness Campaign web site, www.mcs-global.org, which is purely to help save and protect human
health and environmental health globally. Diana Buckland is founder and
global coordinator at diana@mcs-global.org or dbucklan@bigpond.net.au. Diana makes impact all over the world by
alerting everyone about chemical sensitivities caused by poisons sprayed,
injected and applied to our crops and elsewhere.
From Part 5 of this series, “Destroying
our oceans”, if you would like to become involved please refer to www.savetheoceans.org for a first rate lesson on how to take
action in order to cleanse our oceans, restock our fish population, move toward
recycling and cleanup of our world’s most important living resource. Watch
shows on PBS that expose where we threw two million tires into the waters off
the East Coast and all the damage those tires are doing to marine life. You’ll
find out what you can do to have them raised from the deep. Additionally,
check out www.greenpeace.org for actions at the national and international levels.
You’re invited: I am writing in request to invite
you to participate at our March for America National Rally. March for
Would you like to support the PRR? Send donations to: 21st Century Paul Revere
Ride at POB 207,
To make visual impact: Additionally, we have 300 remaining Paul Revere Ride
T-shirts left that feature: “Stop Illegal Immigration” on the front and
the very cool “21st Century Paul Revere Ride” logo on the back with
web sites. State your size. $15.00
per shirt includes shipping. PRR, POB 207,
You can also learn from and assist
like-minded folks;
http://www.cricorp.com/immigration/help.htm
Check out www.alipac.us 1-866-329 3999;
www.theamericanresistance.com;
www.immigrationwatchcanada.com;
www.mothersagainstillegalaliens.org;
www.unitedpatriotsofamerica.com;
Frosty’s
published books include:
"HANDBOOK FOR TOURING BICYCLISTS";
“STRIKE THREE! TAKE YOUR BASE” ;
“IMMIGRATION’S UNARMED INVASION: DEADLY
CONSEQUENCES” ;
“MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TO
INTO THE
WIND— A TEEN NOVEL” ;
“BICYCLING AROUND THE WORLD: TIRE TRACKS FOR YOUR
IMAGINATION”;
“AN EXTREME ENCOUNTER:
His next book: “TILTING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY INTO A
SWAMP”.
Frosty Wooldridge
lives in
